This invention relates generally to musical keyboards, and more particularly to musical keyboards with spatial, graphic, and tactile sequenced markings.
In the nearly universally adopted standard tuning system, also called tempered tuning, musical tones are defined by a logarithmic progression of frequencies such that one tone has a base frequency, (e.g., 440 Hz or 442 Hz), and the frequencies of all of the tones doubles every twelfth tone going up the scale, and halves going down the scale. The result is a twelve-tone scale. It is a property of the twelve-tone scale that it is perceived as a linear sequence of musical tones.
In musical compositions, various tones are selected from the twelve-tone scale to create musical structures. Owning to the constancy of the perceived intervals in the logarithmic progression, it is possible to transpose these musical structures up and down the twelve-tone scale, at will, without altering the perceived relationships between the tones.
There are a number of common variant tuning systems for the twelve tones in an octave. In these variants, the frequencies used for the progression of tones differ from an exact logarithmic progression by a small amount. These variations, including for example xe2x80x9cjust intonationxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cstretch tuning,xe2x80x9d are in accord with certain harmonic and psychoacoustic properties of scales produced by natural phenomena, including the vibrations of stringed instruments, or the pitches produced by valved horns. It should be understood that the scope of the present invention described below is intended to include all such variants of the twelve tone scale.
To facilitate the composition of traditional western music, it is common to define a major scale as a subset of the twelve-tone scale in which certain tones are emphasized and identified as diatonic, or xe2x80x9cin the major scale,xe2x80x9d and the remaining tones are de-emphasized and identified as accidentals, or xe2x80x9cnot in the major scale.xe2x80x9d The major scale, like any other musical structure, can be transposed at will.
It is customary to name the tones in the twelve-tone scale in the following chromatic sequence repeatedly:
. . . C, C# or Db, D, D# or Eb, E, F, F# or Gb, G, G# or Ab, A, A# or Bb, B, C, . . . 
The names in this sequence are assigned to the twelve-tone scale so that the tone A corresponds to the base frequency. It is a property of this sequence that unique letter names, i.e., A through G, are assigned to the diatonic tones in a particular major scale transposition, specifically, the major scale starting with the tone C. It is another property of this sequence that the accidental tones are named according to their adjacency to the diatonic tones.
The relationship of an accidental tone to a diatonic tone is shown by the use of a xe2x80x9cbxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cflat,xe2x80x9d meaning directly below the diatonic tone, and a xe2x80x9c#xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csharp,xe2x80x9d meaning directly above the diatonic tone. Therefore, accidental tones have two possible names, one being the flat of the diatonic tone above, and the other being the sharp of the diatonic tone below.
It is possible to list the C major scale diatonic tones in what is called the root position, starting with the tone C, thus:
. . . C, D, E, F, G, A, B, . . .
Scale Transpositions
With the above musical naming system, it is possible to transpose the major scale structure while maintaining all of the internal interval relationships, and to obtain names for the new set of diatonic tones without repeating any letters. Thus, a transposition from the scale beginning with the tone C to the scale beginning with the tone F results in the following sequence of letter names for the diatonic tones: F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E; a transposition to the scale beginning with the tone Ab results in the following sequence of names: Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab, and a transposition to the scale begging with the tone B results in the following sequence of names: B, C#, D#, E, F#, W#, A#, B.
It can be demonstrated that the sequence of letters A through G can be modified by the addition of appropriate sharps and flats to represent the diatonic tones of any major scale transposition. The simplicity of such representation is a property of, and the principle benefit of this naming system.
Conventional Musical Keyboard
FIG. 1 shows a conventional keyboard 100 where tones and keys are arranged in a pattern that corresponds to the naming system described above. Therefore, the twelve-tone scale is arranged so that the keys corresponding to diatonic tones in the key of C are on white keys of a lower register 101, closer to a musician, and the black keys corresponding to the accidental tones are arranged on an upper register 102, further from the musician. This arrangement facilitates at least two things. First, there is a visible relationship between the physical layout of the tones and the naming system, and second, music written in the scale of C is easy to play.
However, the arrangement of the keyboard 100 hinders the musician playing compositions transposed to other scales. It is well known that the transposition of given musical structures on the conventional keyboard results in the necessity for the musician to learn completely different and complex fingering patterns.
For example, the first three tones in the major scale of C are C, D, E. The corresponding keys lay next to each other on the lower register 101. The same structure in the scale of D is D, E, F#. The first two of these tones are on keys of the lower register 101 and the third tone is on a key of the upper register 102. As a consequence of this property of the conventional keyboard, musicians must spend years learning thousands of musical structures each requiring unique fingerings in all of the possible scale transpositions.
Alternative Musical Keyboards
For the purpose of ensuring consistency of fingering patterns for similar structures, regardless of scale transpositions, alternative keyboards have been designed where the tones of the twelve-tone scale are laid out so that successive tones alternate between a lower and an upper register throughout the keyboard, see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 360,255 issued to Von Jankxc3x3 on Mar. 29, 1887. The Von Jankxc3x3 keyboard has several keys attached to a single register.
In that arrangement, the first three tones of a major scale are on keys of one register and the following four tones on keys of the other register. This is true regardless of scale transpositions. Thus, all twelve-scale transpositions fall into one of two types, six that start on the lower register and six that start on the upper register. The six scale transpositions that start on the lower register have identical fingerings for all structures. The six scale transpositions that start on the upper register also have identical fingerings for all structures. Finally, the fingerings for the two types are merely mirror images of each other with regards to the keys of the upper and lower registers, and so they are quite closely related. Thus the total number of fingering patterns to be learned is drastically reduced.
A number of other keyboard arrangements and coloring schema have followed the Von Jankxc3x3 style.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,734 issued to Rickey on May. 22, 1990 describes a three-register equal temperament whole tone graphic and tactile keyboard. An upper register of keys has the sharp keys (#) extended forward. The upper register keys are narrower than any of the other keys and uses a xe2x80x9cfour whitexe2x80x94two blackxe2x80x9d pattern like Von Jankxc3x3, with the black keys extended forward. The middle register uses a xe2x80x9cfive white-one blackxe2x80x9d pattern, and the black keys for the tone C being larger than the other keys and also extended forward. The lower register keys are approximately aligned with and play the same tones as the upper register keys; although these keys are considerable larger than the keys of the top register, again using the xe2x80x9cfour white-two blackxe2x80x9d pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,679 issued to Riday on Jun. 28, 1994 describes an ergonomic keyboard system with a unified fingering system for both the right and the left hand. Three or more parallel horizontal one-octave rows of monolithic keys in half-tone increments are offset from each other in a uniform parallelogram-shaped tiered array with a tone duplication offset which facilitates an octave span. All keys have a uniform shape. Tone and key association is visually indicated by white, black and optionally gray, or other colors. The key shape is tapered to a narrowed end width to allow tolerance for a finger or thumb to extend past key edges without interfering with the next adjacent key.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,788 issued to Frix on Apr. 11, 1995 describes a keyboard based on the twelve-tone scale that has keys on at least two playing registers. The keys F, G, A, B, C, D, and E are formed from a white smooth material, and the flat (b) keys are formed from a black rough material which is distinguished both tactually and visually from the white smooth material. The color pattern on the front register alternates four white keys with two black keys, and the color pattern on the rear register alternates three white and three block keys.
However, all of these keyboards present a new problem. That problem is the difficulty in identifying the keys. Most of these keyboards use patterns of two colors repeating on the two registers. For example, four white keys alternating with two black keys are used on one register, and three white keys alternating with three black keys are used on the other register.
Most notably, those color identifications result in visual patterns which appear different with respect to different scale transpositions for the various musical structures. The prior art Von Jankxc3x3-like identifications fail to assist in the identification of musically useful intervals. As stated above, it is common and desirable to move or transpose the musical structures up and down the twelve-tone scale, at will, without altering the perceived relationships between the tones.
Therefore, there is a need for a keyboard arrangement that is easy to learn and easy to use, and furthermore, the arrangement and markings of the keys should be consistent for all of the transpositions that are possible for musical structures.
The invention provides a musical keyboard with keys that are arranged and marked for generating tones of a twelve-tone scale. A first register of keys generates first sets of six tones being whole tones apart in the twelve-tone scale. A second register of keys generates second sets of six tones being whole tones apart in the twelve-tone scale.
The tones of the first and second set are disjoint and half-tones apart from each other, and the tones in the first and second set correspond alternately to the twelve-tone scale. The keys of the first register are approximately linearly arranged between the keys of the second register, and the keys of the second register are approximately linearly arranged between the keys of the first register.
The keys of the registers have markings. The markings are arranged in units of three unique markings, such that the units of three unique markings repeat identically and sequentially on the first and second registers, such that any key with a particular unique marking of one register is linearly disposed halfway between two corresponding keys having the identical unique marking on the other register to enable uniform fingering for all transpositions of the twelve-tone scale. In one aspect of the invention, the markings can be visual, tactile, or both.